AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins one win shy of tying team road wins record

Published on January 10, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins begin a three-game road trip Friday in Norfolk, and could return to Wachovia Arena with a new team record for road wins in a season.

The Penguins currently have 15 victories in 18 games away from home this season, just one win shy of the club record of 16 road victories set during the 2000-01 and 2004-05 seasons. The current team has already passed the wins and points totals for the 1999-00 and 2001-02 clubs.

PENGUINS ROAD RECORD BY SEASON

Year GP W L T OTL SOL PTS

1999-00 40 7 26 4 3 -- 21

2000-01 40 16 19 4 1 -- 37

2001-02 40 6 26 6 2 -- 20

2002-03 40 15 17 5 3 -- 38

2003-04 40 15 14 5 6 -- 41

2004-05 40 16 15 -- 4 5 41

2005-06 18 15 2 -- 0 1 31

The Penguins will have three opportunities to tie the mark in the next week, as they play Friday in Norfolk, Saturday in Hershey and Monday afternoon in Syracuse.

SENSATIONAL SABOURIN

Goaltender Dany Sabourin is the top netminder currently playing in the AHL. The Pens' puck-stopper ranks second in the league with a 1.78 goals against average (31 goals against/1,042 minutes played) and tied for first in save percentage at .939 (31 goals against/505 shots).

Only current Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has been better than Sabourin this season, as his 1.57 goals against average ranks first in the league. Sabourin and Fleury are tied for the top spot in save percentage.

Sabourin is also among the league leaders in wins (15 - tied for third) and shutouts (3 - tied for second).

Sabourin has faced an average of 29.7 shots per game (505 shots/17 games).

HIGHS AND LOWS

The Penguins have recorded 133 goals through 36 games, for a goals per game average of 3.69, fourth in the league behind Grand Rapids (156 goals/40 games, 3.9 gpg), Portland (139 goals/37 games, 3.75 gpg) and Houston (138 goals/37 games, 3.73 gpg).

On the other side of the puck, the Pens have allowed a league low 61 goals, for a team goals against average of 1.69. The next closest team in terms of goals against is the Providence Bruins, who have allowed 90 goals through 35 games (2.57 goals per game).

EAST DIVISION DOMINANCE

The Penguins have a record of 22-2-0-1 against the East Division this season, with two regulation losses against Bridgeport and one in a shootout to Hershey.

The Pens have seven wins against Norfolk, five against Hershey, five against Philadelphia, three against Bridgeport and two against Binghamton.

A LOOK AHEAD:

Friday, January 13 - PENGUINS @ Norfolk Admirals

NOTES:

The Penguins are 7-0-0-0 against the Admirals this season, including four wins at the Scope. Friday's game is the final regular season contest between the Pens and Admirals in Norfolk this season. Six of the seven games have been decided by one goal, including two overtime decisions and one in a shootout. Chris Kelleher leads all players in the series in scoring with eight points (1+7) in seven games. Jonathan Filewich leads all players with three goals. Dany Sabourin has posted five wins against the Admirals, allowing eight goals on 153 shots. Mark Cullen is the Admirals leading scorer in the series with four points (1+3), and only Dustin Byfuglien has recorded more than one goal for Norfolk.

Saturday, January 14 - PENGUINS @ Hershey Bears

NOTES:

The Penguins are 5-0-0-1 against the Bears this season, winning twice in Hershey and three times on home ice. Their only non-win was a shootout loss at the Giant Center on December 4. The Penguins set a team record for goals in a period (seven in the first) the last time the teams met on December 26. Wilkes-Barre won the game, 8-1. Jonathan Filewich (3+2) and Guillaume Lefebvre (1+4) lead all active players with five points each in the series. Chris Bourque leads the Bears with four points (0+4) in the series. Hershey rookie Eric Fehr is tied for 17th in the league with 35 points. Bears netminder Frederic Cassivi is second in the AHL with 16 victories.

Monday, January 16 - PENGUINS @ Syracuse Crunch (2:00pm Start Time)

NOTES:

The Penguins are 2-1-0-0 against Syracuse this season. This is the fourth of eight meetings with the Crunch this season, the second in Syracuse. Syracuse won the last meeting between the clubs, 2-1, on December 16 in Wilkes-Barre.

INDIVIDUAL LEAGUE LEADERS (all stats as of 1/10)

Dany Sabourin is tied for third with 15 wins, second with a 1.79 goals against average, tied for second with three shutouts and tied for first with a .939 save percentage. Alain Nasreddine is first overall with a plus-21 rating. Ryan Lannon is third overall with a plus-18 rating. Noah Welch is tied for fifth with a plus-16 rating. Guillaume Lefebvre is tied for eighth with a plus-13 rating. Dennis Bonvie is second overall with 213 penalty minutes. Daniel Carcillo is fourth overall with 171 penalty minutes.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

January 9 - Erik Christensen returned on loan from Pittsburgh (NHL) January 9 - Konstantin Koltsov recalled from loan by Pittsburgh (NHL)

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES (all stats as of 1/10)

The Penguins are averaging 8,159 fans per home game this season (146,868 in 18 games), 100.2% of capacity.

ON THE AIR

All Penguins games can be heard live on WQFM 92.1 and on the internet at www.wbspenguins.com, with Tom Grace calling the action.

ON THE WEB

All Penguins games can be seen live on the internet thanks to the B2 Network. Log on to www.wbspenguins.com to watch all Penguins home and road games live.

TICKETS

Partial season plans, group and individual tickets for Penguins home games are now on sale. For more information, contact the Penguins at 570-208-7367 or log on to www.wbspenguins.com.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2006


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